Web slitter apparatus with optional alternatively operable slitters having guard means



Sept. 25, 1962 H. GOBLE 3,055,247

WEB SLITTER APPARATUS WITH OPTIONAL ALTERNATIVELY OPERABLE SLITTERS HAVING GUARD MEANS Filed Sept. 16, 1958 7 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR ATTORNEY LLOYD H. GOBLE 3,055,247 WEB SLITTER APPARATUS WITH OPTIONAL ALTERNATIVELY 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 L. H. GOBLE fl NN g a win & a. mQQ

Sept. 25, 1962 OPERABLE SLITTERS HAVING GUARD MEANS Filed Sept. 16, 1958 INVENTOR LLOYD H. GOBLE gkfifin/ T II [I L: J g

TTORNEY H. GOBLE 3,055,247

WITH OPTIONAL ALTERNATIVELY RS HAVING GUARD MEANS 7 Sheets-Sheet 3 Sept. 25, 1962 L,

WEB SLITTER APPARATUS OPERABLE SLITTE Filed Sept. 16, 1958 INVENTOR LLOYD H. GQBLE ATTORNEY Sept. 25, 1962 L. H. GOBLE ,055,247

WEB SLITTER APPARATUS WITH OPTIONAL ALTERNAT Y PERABLE 0 SLITTERS HAVING GUARD MEANS Filed Sept. 16, 1958 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR V I LLOYD H. GOBLE X QM ATTORNEY Sept. 25, 1962 L. H. GOBLE 3,055,247

WEB SLITTE; PPARA WITH 0 0 ALTERNATIVELY OPER E SLI RS HAVI Filed Sept. 16, 1958 ARD MEANS 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR LLOYD H. GOBLE ATTORNEY Sept. 25, 1962 L. H. GOBLE 3,055,247

WEB SLITTER APPARATUS WITH OPTIONAL ALTERNATIVELY OPERABLE SLITTERS HAVING GUARD MEANS Filed Sept. 16, 1958 7 Sheets-Sheet e INVENTOR LLOYD H. GOBLE a giw/ ATTORNEY Sept. 25, 1962 H. GOBLE WEB SLITTER APPARATUS WITH OPTIONAL ALTERNATIVELY OPERABLE SLITTERS HAVING GUARD MEANS 7 Sheets-Sheet '7 Filed Sept. 16, 1958 INVENTOR ATTORNEY United dtates Patent Ofifice 3,055 247 WEB SEWER APPARATUS WITH GPTEONAL ALTERNATiVELY OFERABLE SLITTERS HAV- ENG GUARD MEANS Lloyd H. Gable, Terre Hante, Ind, assignor to Union Carbide Corporation, a corporation of New York Filed Sept. 16, 1953, Ser. No. 761,401 Qlaims. (ill. 83-425) This invention relates to an apparatus for slitting continuously moving Webs of sheet material such as thermoplastic film, paper, metal foil and the like.

it is customary for purposes of economical production to produce sheet material in as wide a width as possible by the web-forming apparatus be it a paper making machine, an extruder for thermoplastic film, or rolling mills for plastic film or metal foil. Subsequently the wide width parent webs are cut or slit into a plurality of narrower unit widths to meet the dimensional requirements of the trade.

For obvious reasons appreciated by those skilled in the art, the web-forming apparatus is ordinarily operated on a continuous basis, and While it is possible to first reel up the sheet material as discharged from the webforming apparatus and thereafter unreel the sheet material for passage through a slitting apparatus and then individually reel up again each cut strip, such operations obviously entail extra reeling manipulations thereby increasing production time and costs.

Consequently, whenever feasible, it is highly desirable and economical to have the slitting of wide width webs conducted as a continuous operation in direct conjunction with the operation of the web-forming apparatus as by continuously passing the parent web as discharged from the web-forming apparatus directly to a slitter apparatus and then reeling the slit webs. Such continuous operations are only practical when the desired width requirement of the slit material are stable over a long period of time and the cutting means of the slitter are not dulled by the web sheet material.

Quite often, however, the requirement of a particular customers order for web sheet material slit to certain plurality of unit widths is fulfilled relatively quickly, and the next customers order for the same material but slit to different unit widths interrupts the continuous operation because of the time required to readjust the cutting means of the conventional slitter apparatus to the new width specifications. During such adjustment period the web-forming apparatus continues to discharge sheet material which is either wasted or put aside for salvage.

Furthermore, the cutting means must be periodically resharpened or replaced to maintain slitting efficiency and this also interrupts and interferes with continuous operation of web-forming and web-slitting.

Heretofore, various slitting devices, have been used, which had a number of unprotected razor blade slitting units clamped to a single slide rail. When a change in the arrangement of slitting webs was required, these blade units had to be disengaged from the moving web, unclamped and reclamped to new positions. For some web width specification changes, blade units had to be removed or added to the device.

On the slitting devices formerly used for this purpose, the blade units were awkwardly placed and difficult to adjust. Operators frequently cut themselves when they made adjustments to the blade units. For such reasons, it was not uncommon for the operators to make errors in size adjustments which resulted in wasted film. A considerable amount of film was also wasted during the time blade adjustments were made because it is desirable that the web-forming apparatus be operated continuously.

It is therefore .an object of this invention to provide Patented Sept. 25, 1952 a slitting apparatus which will afford the operator maximum protection from accidental injury.

Another object of this invention is to provide a film slitting apparatus which will increase production efficiency through the elimination of scrap film produced while adjusting the film slitter for width specification changes.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a film slitting apparatus which can be used continuously in conjunction with an extruding device.

A further object of this invention is to provide a film slitting apparatus with duplicate, opposed or adjacent slitting stations arranged in such a manner that when one station is in use, the knives or blades of the inactive station are sheathed and can be safely preset for the next sheeting order.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a film slitting apparatus having duplicate opposed or adjacent slitting stations whose blades automatically sheath upon leaving the cutting position and unsheath upon reaching the cutting position.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a film slitting apparatus which can cut numerous desirable sized unit widths out of any width of parent film being slit.

Further objects and advantages will become apparent rom this specification and appended claims.

The above objects are broadly accomplished in accordance with the present invention by providing a rotatably mounted shaft having slidably positioned along the length of said shaft one or more cutting means, and more or less opposite to said cutting means, another set of cutting means also slidably mounted on the rotatable shaft whereby when one set of cutting means is on a position for slitting moving web material, the other set of cutting means is in a non-slitting position with respect to the web material, and can be slidably positioned along the rotatable shaft to any desired cutting widths or be replaced if dulled or worn out, and then when desired by rotation of the shaft the first mentioned cutting means may be quickly disengaged from the web material and sheathed and the second cutting means immediately brought into a cutting engagement with the web-material.

The nature of the invention will be more clearly understood by reference to the following detailed description and in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a frontal elevational view of the slitter apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the slitter apparatus.

PEG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the slitter apparatus taken at 33 on FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a right end elevational view of the slitter apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a left end elevational view of the slitter apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a front elevational view of the cutter blade and carriage assembly.

FIG. 7 is a left end elevational view of the cutter blade and carriage assembly.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of the cutter blade and carriage assembly.

FIG. 9 is a detail view of the slitter bar shaft.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram for the pneumatic system of the slitter apparatus.

Referring to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals designate like parts, the slitter apparatus assembly, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 and 9, comprises a main supporting shaft 20 journaled in bearings 22 supported on mounting plates 24 which are slidably supported in guides 26, 28 on a suitable supporting framework 29 at each end of the slitter shaft assembly. A plurality of mounting collars 30 are positioned on the slitter shaft 20 and fastened thereto by roll pins 34. Fads 32 which are coplaner with each other are welded and are an integral part of the collars 3t Extending between the collars 30 are slide rails 36, 36' which are secured to pads 32 with screws 33 in such manner that slide rail 36 is radially positioned about shaft 26 approximately 180 from rail 36. A plurality of cutting blade holder carriage assemblies 40 are slidably and adjustably mounted on slide rails 36, 36 and locked in selected positions on the slide rails 36, 36' by means of thumb screws 42.

The blade holder carriage assembly 49, as shown in greater detail in FIGS. 6 to 8, consists of a slidably mounted and adjustable U-shaped carriage 118, having screw attached caps 124, 124' and a locking thumb screw 42, attached with screws 126, to a single acting air cylinder 44 with a piston rod 62 connected to a blade holder 46, through a connecting link 48 and pin 52. A cutting blade 50 is pivoted on a pin 52 of the blade support 46 into one of two positions, preferably trailing the direction of film travel, and locked in place by means of a thumb screw 54. The blade holder 46 slides within a guide formed by a base 56 and strip member 58 on each blade holder carriage assembly 40. Compressed air introduced into one end of the cylinder 44 through a port 60 urges the piston rod 62, connected to a piston 61 slidably housed within said cylinder, out of the cylinder and the blade 50 into operating (slitting) position. A compression spring, 63, within the cylinder 44 biased between the piston 61 and the other end of said cylinder returns the blade to its protected, non-operating position whenever air pressure is released from the cylinder.

In FIGS. 2 and there is shown a worm and gear set 64 with a crank 66 to provide the means for manual rotation of the slitter shaft 20 to which it is connected. Referring now to FIG. 4, a stop 68 secured to the opposite end of the shaft 20 provides means for indexing both slitting stations and confines the travel of each within a predefined 180 arc. A detent lock 70 shown in FIG. 5 is keyed to a shaft 20 and cooperates with a lock plate 72 to prevent unintentional rotation of the slitter assembly and the subsequent retraction of the slitting blades as will be described hereinafter.

In FIGS. 1 and 3, there is shown a gear and rack 76 connected to a worm and pinion drive 74. Turning of crank 78 connected to warm and pinion drive 74 turns the gear thereby moving rack 76 in a direction axially parallel to shaft 20, the rack 76 being fastened to mounting plates 24, thereby providing alignment of the complete slitter assembly with respect to the path of the web material.

Compressed air for operation of the blade holder assemblies 40, as shown in FIG. 2, in the downward (op erating) position, is supplied to air cylinder 44 from a quick coupling 80, a manifold 82, and flexible hoses 84.

The manifold 82 consists of selected lengths of tubing disposed between special T fittings 86 secured to collars 30. Each T 86 is provided with a quick coupling 88 for operation with a plug connector 90 on one end of the flexible hose 84. At its opposite end, the hose 84 is connected to a cylinder port 60, as shown in FIGS. 6 to S, with suitable tubing fittings. In a similar manner, compressed air for operation of the blade holder assemblies shown in the upward (non-operating) position is supplied through a quick coupling 92, a manifold 94, and flexible hoses 96.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, an adjustable screw 106 'of the shtter shaft 20 and a radial hole 102. form a com- 4 pletes a circuit to solenoid air valve 132, as shown in FIG. '10. Upon electric current being supplied to the solenoid air valve 132 it opens, permitting compressed air to flow therethrough to coupling and in turn to manifold 82. When the slitter shaft 2% is rotated from its previous position, a similar lug 114 with an adjustable screw 112 actuates a limit switch 116 which energizes a separate solenoid air valve 134, as shown in FIG. 10, to supply air under pressure to manifold )4 through coupling 92. Rotation of either lug 108, 114 away from its corresponding limit switch 110, 116 respectively causes simultaneous closing'of the supply port 120, 122 in the solenoid air valve and opening of the exhaust port 136, 138 through which air pressure is released from the manifold 82', 9'4 resulting in automatic retraction of all slitting blades 59.

The slitter shaft assembly is mounted in suitable bearings 22 and may be manually rotated 180 and returned, by cranking a worm and gear 64 through crank 66. The slitter shaft assembly may also be shifted axially by cranking a second worm and gear 74 actuating the rack member through crank 78.

As shown in FIG, '10, the clean dry compressed air supplied to the manifolds 82, 94, through their respective solenoid air valves 132, 134, first passes through a manual air valve 148.

As shown in FIG. 4, when cutting units 40 are in the operating position A, blades 50 are unsheat'hed. At the same time, blades 50 in cutting units 40 in thenon-opcrating position B are sheathed and held in a retracted position because of the absence of air pressure in manifold 94. Since blades 50 are sheathed in the blade holder assemblies 40 in the non-operating position B, the operator can conveniently and safely adjust the setting of these blade holder assemblies 40 along the slitter rail 36' to the next order of unit widths required before completion of the order requirements using cutting units 40 in position A.

When the next order is ready for slitting, the slitter shaft assembly is rotated 180, so that the preset B blade units become operative and become unsheathed. The unsheathing of the blades occurs only when the shaft assembly has been fully rotated and is stopped by stop member 68. As the A units move out of the zone of slitting, they are automatically sheathed. Movement of the blade assembly ranging from about 1 to about 5, on arc 12-8, will cause the blades to become sheathed.

The apparatus of this invention is suitable for cutting or slitting wide Width parent webs into a plurality of narrower unit widths to meet dimensional requirements of the trade.

Alterations in the settings of the cutting blade units or one of a plurality of separate assemblies may be made without stopping the extrusion and slitting operation.

Also, having multiple blade assemblies operating alternately, successive slitting specifications may be preset easily and quickly without interrupting the operation.

Thus, the apparatus of this invention is economical to use because it effects a saving in the time required for width specification changes in the slitting operation, as well as minimizing material losses therefrom due to continuous operation of the Web-forming apparatus or errors in blade settings. Also, since the cutter blades are sheathed immediately upon removal from the web cutting position, the operator is afforded a maximum of protection from accidental injury while making changes in the blade assembly settings, and is able to perform his task more leisurely and accurately.

Since it is apparent that various changes and modifications may be made in the above specified embodiments without departing from the nature and spirit thereof, this invention is not limited thereto except as set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A device for slitting continuously moving web sheet material comprising in combination, a frame, a rotatable shaft mounted on said frame, a plurality of slide rails fastened to said shaft and parallel thereto and rotatable therewith, means for rotating said shaft about its axis to bring a desired slide rail in juxtaposition with said web material and to move another slide rail out of juxtaposition with said web material, at least one slitting assembly for each slide rail wherein each slitting assembly comprises a holder slidably mounted on a slide rail and wherein said slide rails are spaced from one another peripherally about said shaft to facilitate adjusting said holders, a slitter retractably mounted in said holder of each slitting assembly adapted to be sheathed within and unsheathed from said holder, means to unsheath the slitter from the holder on the slide rail in juxtaposition to the web material and to move said slitter into slitting contact with the web material such that the slitter extends through said web material, and means to retract and sheath the slitter within the holder on the slide rail not in juxtaposition with the web material, and control means mounted on and directly responsive to rotational movement of the shaft for actuating said sheathing means and unsheathing means, whereby within a few degrees rotation of the shaft causing the sheathing means for the slitting assembly having the unsheathed slitter to retract and sheath said slitter as the slitting assembly is being rotated away from juxtaposition with the web material while causing the unsheathing means for the slitting assembly having the sheathed slitter to unsheath said slitter and move it into slitting contact with the Web material only upon rotating said sheathed slitter assembly into substantial juxtaposition with the web material.

2. A device for slitting continuously moving web sheet material comprising, in combination, a frame, a rotatable shaft mounted on said frame and axially movable therealong, a pair of slide rails fastened to said shaft substantially opposite to each other about the periphery of the shaft and parallel thereto and rotatable therewith, means for rotating said shaft about its axis to bring one slide rail in juxtaposition with said web material and to move the other slide rail out of juxtaposition with said web material, at least one slitting assembly for each slide rail wherein each slitting assembly comprises a holder slidably mounted on a slide rail and wherein said slide rails are spaced from one another peripherally about said shaft to facilitate adjusting said holders, a slitter retractably mounted in said holder of each slitting assembly adapted to be sheathed within and unsheathed from said holder, means to unsheath the slitter from the holder on the slide rail in juxtaposition to the web material and to move said slitter into slitting contact with the web material such that the slitter extends through said web material, and means to retract and sheath the slitter within the holder on the slide rail not in juxtaposition with the web material, and control means mounted on and directly responsive to rotational movement of the shaft for actuating said sheathing means and unsheathing means, whereby within a few degrees rotation of the shaft causing the sheathing means for the slitting assembly having the unsheathed slitter to retract and sheath said slitter as the slitting assembly is being rotated away from juxtaposition with the web material While causing the unsheathing means for the slitting assembly having the sheathed slitter to unsheath said slitter and move it into slitting contact with the web material only upon rotating said sheathed slitter assembly into substantial juxtaposition with the web material.

3. A device for slitting continuously moving web sheet material comprising, in combination, a frame, a rotatable shaft mounted on said frame, a plurality of slide rails fastened to said shaft and parallel thereto and rotatable therewith, means for rotating said shaft about its axis to bring a desired slide rail in juxtaposition with said web material and to move another slide rail out of juxtaposition with said web material, at least one slitting assembly for each slide rail wherein each slitting assembly comprises a holder slidably mounted on a slide rail and wherein said slide rails are spaced from one another peripherally about said shaft to facilitate adjusting said holders, a slitter retractably mounted in said holder of each slitting assembly adapted to be sheathed within and unsheathed from said holder, compressed air operated means to unsheath the slitter from the holder on the slide rail in juxtaposition to the web material and to move said slitter into slitting contact with the web material such that the slitter extends through said web material, and spring operated means to sheath and retract the slitter within the holder on the slide rail not in juxtaposition with the web material, and control means mounted on and directly responsive to rotational movement of the shaft for actuating said spring operated sheathing means and compressed air operated unsheathing means, whereby within a few degrees rotation of the shaft causing the spring operated sheathing means for the slitting assembly having the unsheathed slitter to retract and sheath said slitter as the slitting assembly is being rotated away from juxtaposition with the web material while causing the compressed air operated unsheathing means for the slitting assembly having the sheathed slitter to unsheath said slitter and move it into slitting contact with the web material only upon rotating said sheathed slitter assembly into substantial juxtaposition with the web material.

4. A device for slitting continuously moving web sheet material comprising, in combination, a frame, a rotatable shaft mounted on said frame, a pair of slide rails fastened to said shaft substantially opposite to each other about the periphery of the shaft and parallel thereto, at least one slitting assembly slidably mounted on each slide rail, means for rotating said shaft about its axis to bring a one slide rail and its slitting assembly in juxtaposition with said web material and to move the other slide rail and its slitting assembly out of juxtaposition with said Web material, each slitting assembly includes a holder, a slitter retractably mounted in said holder adapted to be sheathed within and unsheathed from said holder, a cylinder having an end adapted to receive fluid under pressure only when the slitting assembly is in juxtaposition to the web material, a piston slidably housed within said cylinder connected to said slitter and actuated toward the other end of said cylinder by the fluid under pressure delivered to said cylinder one end to unsheath the slitter when its slitting assembly is in juxtaposition to the web material and to move said slitter into slitting contact with the web material such that the slitter extends through said web material, and resilient means biased between said piston and other end of the cylinder constantly urging the piston toward said one end of the cylinder, a normally open electrical switch for the slitting assembly on each slide rail, a member aflixed to said shaft and rotated into contact with the electrical switch to close it when the slitting assembly is in juxtaposition with the web material, and a solenoid fluid valve for the slitting assembly energized when the switch therefor is closed for supplying fluid under pressure to said one end of said cylinder of the slitting assembly in juxtaposition with the web material and de-energized when the switch therefor is opened upon rotation of the member by the shaft away from being in contact with said switch for exhausting said one end of the cylinder whereupon said resilient means moves the piston toward said one end of the cylinder for retracting and sheathing the slitter within its holder.

5. A device for slitting web sheet material comprising, in combination, a frame, a rotatable shaft mounted on said frame, a plurality of slide rails fastened to said shaft and parallel thereto, a plurality of slitting assemblies slidably mounted on each slide rail, means for rotating said shaft about its axis to bring a desired slide rail and slitting assemblies in juxtaposition with said web material and to move another slide rail and slitting assemblies out of juxtaposition with said web material, said slide rails being spaced from one another about said shaft to facilitate adjusting the slitting assemblies on said slide rails, each slitting assembly includes a holder, a slitter retractably mounted in said holder adapted to be sheathed within and unsheathed from said holder, a cylinder having an end adapted to receive fluid under pressure only when the slitting assembly is in juxtaposition to the web material, a piston slidably housed within said cylinder connected to said slitter and actuated toward the other end of said cylinder by the fluid under pressure delivered to said cylinder one end to unsheath the slitter on the slide rail in juxtaposition to the web material and to move said slitter into slitting contact with the web material such that the slitter extends through said web material, and a spring biased between the piston and the other end of said cylinder constantly urging thepiston toward said one end of the cylinder, a normally open electrical switch for the slitting assemblies on each slide rail, a member affixed to said shaft and rotated into contact with the electrical switch to close said electrical switch when the slitting assemblies and slide rail are in juxtaposition with the web material, and a solenoid fluid valve for the slitting assemblies on each slide rail energized when the switch therefor is closed for supplying the fluid under pressure to said one end of the cylinders of the slitting assemblies in juxtaposition with the web material and de-energized when the switch therefor is opened upon rotation of the member by the shaft away from being in contact with the switch for exhausting said one end of the cylinders whereupon the spring means move the pistons toward said one end of the cylinders for retracting and sheathing the slitting means within their holders.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 823,797 Lupton June 19, 1906 1,507,703 Kennedy Sept. 9, 1924 1,738,353 Cameron et a1. Dec. 3, 1929 1,900,252 Morgan Mar. 7, 1933 1,965,110 Smith July 3, 1934 2,149,430 Fleming Mar. 7, 1939 2,278,713 Riddle Apr. 7, 1942 2,476,530 Belada July 19, 1949 2,712,852 Carter July 12, 1955 2,792,889 Kusel May 21, 1957 2,802,528 Mastriani Aug. 13, 1957 :UNITED STATES PATENT. @FFICE CERTIFEATE CORREQTION Patent No $055,247 September 25 1962 Lloyd [-1. Goble It is hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered patent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent shouldread as corrected below.

Column 3, line 66 for "As shown in FIGSo 2 and 4, an adjustable screw 106" read As shown in FIGa 9 an axial hole 98 in the hub 100 5 H Signed and sealed this 19th day of February 1963,

(SEAL) Attest:

ESTON G. JOHNSON Attesting Officer DAVID L. LADD Commissioner of Patents 

